Don Johnson, Urban Resources Partnership Program & Community Development
Consultants

Doris Jones, Urban League

Richard J. Mark, President/CEO, St. Mary’s Hospital

Toya Nash, Director, Operation New Spirit

Kathleen O’Keefe, Neighborhood Law Office

John Roach, Roach Program Development Associates

Norman Ross, Olivette Park

Ed Smith, Chief, Fire Department of East St. Louis

Sarah Smith, Arts in Transit

Jeanelle Stovall, Katherine Dunham Centers

Dianne Thompson, Staff Attorney, Land of Lincoln Legal Services

Lucille Walton, Coordinator, Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiatives

EAST ST. LOUIS ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (ESLARP)

Executive Committee

Kenneth M. Reardon

Thomas P. Shields

Robert Selby

Michael Andrejasich

Brian Orland

Kieran Donaghey

Varkki George

Cynthea Geerdes

Neighborhood Technical Assistance Center

Damon Y. Smith (former)

Patricia Nolan (former)

LaTonya Burton

Craig Miller

James Jones

Staff

Abhijeet Chavan

Deanna Koenigs

Research Assistants

Edgar Flagg

Raja Shankar

Yong Wook Kim

Paul Foppe

Jenni Sorensen

Cathy Klump

Colleen Waite

Mike Sherfy

Sarah Duffy

EMERSON PARK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Biographies

President

Richard M. Suttle, Sr. was born in East St. Louis and was raised in Belleville
to the age of nine. He returned to East St. Louis at the age of nine and presently
lives at 1121 Lake Avenue and has resided there since 1968. Mr. Suttle has one
brother and two sisters. He has one son and one granddaughter. He is a member
of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and the Class of 1952 of Lincoln High School. He
owned a trucking company and car wash until 1967. In 1968 he attended Belleville
Area College and graduated after two years with an Associates Degree in Life
Insurance Underwriter Training LUTC/CLU. He retired in 1988 and has been involved
with the Emerson Park Development Corporation since 1990. He also sits on the
boards of East St. Louis Community Action Network (ESLCAN), New Spirit Organizing
Office, and the Urban Resources Partnership Program.

Vice-President

Henry Peete

Secretary

Peggy Hume has been a life long resident of East St. Louis and has lived in
the Emerson Park Neighborhood for more than twenty five years and is a member
of the 9th Street Church of God in Christ. She graduated from East
Side High School and is a Certified Nurses Aid. She attended Professional Business
School in St. Louis and the Metro Business College. She has had computer training
from Bits and Bytes Computers in Belleville. She has one son attending Lincoln
College on a golf scholarship in Jefferson City, Missouri. Currently she is
employed at The Mental Health Center in East St. Louis as an Administrative
Aid for Child and Adolescent Services. She also works part time at Grandpa Pigeons
in Collinsville as a cashier. Peggy’s skills include shorthand, typing, computer
experience, and good interpersonal skills. She is also the secretary of the
East St. Louis Community Action Network (ESLCAN).

Treasurer

Cathy Tucker is a twenty-nine year resident of 1117 Winstanley Avenue in the
Emerson Park neighborhood. She graduated from Venice High School and moved to
East St. Louis with her husband Charles. They have raised three children in
the neighborhood. Cathy has been an employee of Sterling catering services for
more than fifteen years and worked at the American Steel Foundry prior to her
position there. She has been an active member of the Emerson Park Development
Corporation since 1985 and has served on the Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood
House Board prior to becoming an EPDC Officer.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Emerson Park Neighborhood Revitalization Plan was developed over
the past year as a result of the close relationship between the University of
Illinois and the Emerson Park neighborhood, a relationship that spans nearly
a decade. Over the years, this relationship has grown because of the strong
commitment of hundreds of people who have relentlessly labored to make life
in Emerson Park and in the City of East St. Louis better for the next generation.
To list all the people that have contributed to the growth and development of
Emerson Park would take a book in its own right!

Instead, the planning team would like to take this opportunity to thank a couple
of key people who have contributed immensely to the completion of this plan.
These individuals have offered the skills, insight and vision to turn a neighborhood’s
aspirations into a 35-strategy plan for improving the quality of life in Emerson
Park for current and future residents. Many thanks to…

The EPDC board for providing a treasure chest of information, encouragement,
and vision. Richard Suttle, Henry Peete, Peggy Hume and Cathy Tucker are
a phenomenal board.

All Emerson Park residents and local leaders who invited the planning
team into their homes, shared their vision of tomorrow and provided the
reason for planning in the first place. Thank you for making planning
WORK in Emerson Park.

Ceola Davis for her heroic efforts in the neighborhood yesterday and
today – without her, this dynamic relationship may not exist.

Prof. Ken Reardon who supplied the student planning team with the tools,
knowledge, and inspiration to work in a collaborative fashion with the
residents of Emerson Park. This experience in neighborhood planning will
remind us all that the people are the most important part of neighborhood
planning.

Vickie Forby, Executive Director of EPDC, who answered countless questions,
entertained student ideas and encouraged the planning process from start
to finish. Her dedication to community revitalization makes Emerson Park
a better place to live.

Diane Bonner, Director of Community Development Block Grant Operations
Corporation for her ongoing support of the revitalization of Emerson Park.

Patricia Nolan, Damon Smith and Craig Miller of the Neighborhood Technical
Assistance Center, who were never too busy to answer just one more
question.

James Jones of ESLCAN who never neglected to remind us about the importance
of TIME in neighborhood planning.

The staff of the Departments of Urban and Regional Planning and Architecture:
Jane Terry, Glenda Fisher, Vicki Eddings, and Carol Berg - for never being
too busy to make copies or reserve equipment.